Abstract
M.A. (Clinical Psychology)
This research was undertaken in an attempt to validate the
hypotheses that depression reported after coronary artery bypass
grafting could be attributed to cognitive distortion, learned
helplessness and loss of appropriate social reinforcement.
Thirty subjects from the J.G. Strijdom Hospital in Johannesburg were
randomly selected from a population of 80 patients who had undergone
their first coronary artery bypass graft and assessed for depression
and the related dimensions of the hypotheses. Mood was also
assessed. On the basis of Beck Depression Inventory scores, 17
subjects were divided into experimental and control groups of
depressed and non- depressed patients. The differences between the
two groups were then compared.
Overall, no support was found for the learned helplessness,
cognitive distortion or loss of social reinforcement hypotheses,
although fatigue, sadness and egotism were found to be the most
significant differences between depressed and non-depressed
post-operative patients. Contrary to indications in the literature,
only 40 percent of patients in this study were found to be
clinically depressed.
The findings of this research may be seen to offer support for the
"coronary-prone Behaviour" hypothesis, suggesting post-operative
psychotherapeutic programmes for coronary artery bypass graft
patients should address themselves to changing the behavioural
styles of these patients both pre- and post-operatively.